Atmosphere Comparison

[Jim]

The endless chatter of weather.

[azbackpackr]

It was two degrees here, too. I'm outta here, at least for the holidays! Leaving today for the Golden State.

[cactuscat]

@azbackpackr
Safe travels, and have fun!

[Jim]

It was actually -3 there yesterday, and at most -1 there today. I don't really miss that kind of cold either. Actually, 28 is cold for me anymore. It is this year, anyway. Enjoy San Diego. Should be mild there. If you passed through Flag about now, it's only 10 there. Enjoy your last bit of cold.

[azbackpackr]

Jim, I don't go through Flag to get to San Diego. The 40 is too far north for where I want to be. I go through Show Low and Payson to Phx. and then take the 202 west and then the 10 west to Beaumont, CA. Then I take the 60 west to Riverside, then the 15 south to Valley Center. (The other way I have gone is to take 60 down through the Salt River Canyon, to Florence Junction, Florence, Coolidge, Casa Grande, Yuma, San Diego. That way is technically the shortest possible route, but it takes longer due to driving conditions. If I were going to El Cajon instead of Oceanside I would go that way, though.)

I had planned to camp along the way but just kept driving and got here about 1 a.m. My son just bought a house with a big lot in Valley Center. Avocado trees, citrus trees, etc. And a view of the ocean and you can also see Palomar Mountain. I am so glad to be here, even though it's chilly here, too. Maybe got down into the 40's last night. I'll be driving down to Oceanside later today. I brought both of my bikes and my day hiking stuff. Forgot my life vest, though. I'll need to borrow one for the kayaking.

Everytime I come here it feels like old home week. It's time to move back. I haven't lived in my home town since 1978. I already joined an egroup hiking club here!

Poor me...

[Jim]

The house in the FB pics? Ah, well, enjoy your stay at the San Diego resort. 40 sounds brutal. Even where I am, it has been in the teens. The Chihuahua is no Sonoran.

[azbackpackr]

Yes, I'm sitting in that house right now. It's really, really nice!

[Jim]

Looks like Snowbowl and Ski Apache had about the same total accumulation overnight, 4inches. Not a bad dressing. The Sierra have picked up a huge amount of snow over the last few days, so much for the drier than normal December that was forecast. It can still be warm and dry in January, though.

What AZ, and perhaps if lucky NM needs, is a nice cold, wet low to track down the CA coast, come in over LA, track across the desert, and move over north or central AZ, dumping snow on Peaks, the Sky Islands, and the northern NM mountains, and perhaps even down here, or at least in the Gila. It seems the Sacramento Mountains hardly ever gets anything substantial. People here get excited about 2 inches.

[chumley]

JimH just asked Santa for a Pineapple Express! I hope the old fat guy delivers. : rein :

[outdoor_lover]

It snowed in Scottsdale this morning...and there were casualties...

[big_load]

It snowed in Scottsdale this morning...and there were casualties...

Such carnage!

We had a touch of snow last night, which brought the first accident of the season behind my house. (Somebody forgot that snow and steep hills don't mix. If it weren't for the guardrail, my neighbors would have an SUV in their kitchen). More snow is coming tomorrow, but not a lot.

[JimmyLyding]

We've been getting it pretty good here in the Bay Area over the last few weeks. The salmon are definitely happy because our early winter has been very wet. Unfortunately for Arizona these storms have been out of the Gulf of Alaska rather than Pineapple Express storms so they've headed out across the northern Rockies rather than hitting the Southwest. Another unfortunate thing about these recent storms is that they seem to happen around the weekend so it's killed my hiking....

[tibber]

so it's killed my hiking....

[azbackpackr]

Raining in San Diego county, and it's supposed to move across to AZ, isn't it? Maybe it already has started there, since my friend said the sidewalks were wet in Tucson this morning.

[Jim]

Very light snow for northern AZ. The highest totals, of 3 to 5 inches, are for the Kaibab.

I don't need any pineapple express, but maybe some PNW Troller Bud, I mean a typical low that slides down the coast and comes in over LA, tapping some sub-tropical moisture but not necessarily having a large warm plume extending back to the central pacific. Something like the March Storm of last year, or the storms of mid to late December of 2008.

[azbackpackr]

I was hoping to get warmed up when I came out here. I've been cold most of the time. And now it's pouring rain.

Whine...

[Jim]

It will probably warm up in a few days, and it is the end of December. It isn't even warm in low desert areas of AZ. If I had a week off, I probably wouldn't travel, as I would be getting little improvement in temps.

[chumley]

I'm heading to JFK to try to get back home tonight. Should be fun with this nor'easter bearing down on us. Sustained winds of 40-45mph, gusting to 60mph. Could be a fun climb out if they even let us fly.

[azbackpackr]

I'm heading to JFK to try to get back home tonight. Should be fun with this nor'easter bearing down on us. Sustained winds of 40-45mph, gusting to 60mph. Could be a fun climb out if they even let us fly.

jfk.png

Safe travels! Be prudent!

[big_load]

'm heading to JFK to try to get back home tonight. Should be fun with this nor'easter bearing down on us. Sustained winds of 40-45mph, gusting to 60mph. Could be a fun climb out if they even let us fly.

Good luck. It was already snowing here when you posted. I don't know if it was cold enough to snow yet on Long Island. The last forecast I saw predicted 9.5" in NW Jersey, but nasty, icy mix further east.

[chumley]

It snowed the whole drive in from ct. It was a mess. A couple inches already on the roads. Changed to rain in southern westchester and was just a rainy mess at JFK. The wind limited them to only runway 4L so there was a long line to get out. We started as #32 in line for takeoff! After a little over an hour we made it out! Landed at about 12:30 phx.